Ocean's Secret |on hold|

6 | Her, Finally

This music is 'The Highest Step In The World' by Adam Young. Press play before reading if you like music :)

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Meredee awoke with the sound of the first bird chirping, the first noisy minor calling out to its mate before being joined by their various neighbors. The twittering combined with the last vestiges of the fading dream that still played out on the back of her eyes.

She was running; running from her house in China with her parents cries echoing behind her, followed by the terrifying gun shots that had forever punctuated the breaking of her heart. Leaves crunched and scattered underfoot; footsteps sounded in her ears, and as she stumbled headlong on the winding path that led up into the dense bushes and scrub, she realised they weren't just her own; her chest wheezed as her heart thudded against her ribs, and she hated the way her childhood asthma chose to attack now at the worst of times. Just when she was running for her life. She stumbled on a rock and fell to the hard earth; she tried to roll on her shoulder to lessen the impact, and found herself staring up into the steel barrel of a military rifle, a hazy figure looming above her.

Then she heard shouts, telling her to fight.

"Fight, Meredee! You have to fight!"

Kallum? "No, Kallum, I can't!"

She had tried, back there at the house; God knew she tried to free herself from the murderous soldiers. "I can't – fight...not anymore!"

"Let the past go, Meredee. Fight NOW!"

No, don't let it go. Use it to make you stronger, a warrior.

She grabbed the gun with both hands and swung her legs up then down, using the momentum to push the man away and wrench the rifle from his grasp as she leapt to her feet. Seeing him coming back at her from the corner of her eye, she spun around and kicked him across the jaw, sending him sprawling onto the leaf-covered path, knocked out cold. She stood there, breathing hard with the rifle in her arms, aimed at the unmoving man. She had fought. Just like Kallum had demanded her to.

Ka'leisha....

Meredee whipped around. That voice! Again! Her eyes scanned the darkened trees as her ears strained for any more sound other than the infrequent chirps of birds.

Ka'leisha...come to me....

That's when Meredee had awoken, staring up at the shadowed ceiling with the twittering coming through on the soft breeze.

Lying in the warm cosy bed as the darkness in the room slowly faded with the coming of dawn, she tried to formulate her next course of action. Had the voice just been a part of her dream? Or was the woman really out there, calling to her yet again? Meredee held her breath, listening, but there was nothing more than the usual sounds of the impending dawn. Scooting off the bed, she quickly looked out the window and thought she saw a face in the shadows of the treeline. She knew what she had to do. Changing from her pyjamas into one of the long dresses Emily had left for her, she hastily braided her hair into a plait, tying it off with the band that never left her wrist. Meredee then hurried out as quietly as she could into the hall and down the first flight of stairs. She pulled up quickly when she spied a man waiting at the end of the corridor, a long sword held down in his hand as if waiting to defend against intruders. A guard?

Her heart hammered in her chest as she pressed herself tightly against the wall and edged her way back up the steps. She vaguely recalled Cyrus mentioning something about increased security in the mansion. Well, she would have to get out another way. Once back in her room, she paced for a few seconds, deep in thought, until she crossed back to the window that faced out towards the forest on the east. Pushing gently on the pane of glass, she sighed in relief when it swung open without its hinges squeaking. Gathering up her long skirts, she looked out at the roof that sloped down towards the edge of the second story before she lifted one leg over the sill, ducked under the glass, and then eased the rest of herself out the window. She had to crouch low to the tiles to prevent herself from slipping, but she eventually made it to the edge and peered over, looking for a balcony or something to climb down on.